ABSTRACT
I offered my services, but was told that I must see the General Commanding-in-Chief (General Mazaro) on the subject, though I was welcome to stay as long
as I liked in the meantime. All next day I thought the matter over. I was assured there was not the slightest possibility of active service. I offered to scout independently towards the enemy. I was told this service was most efficiently done by the Italian cavalry, and was eagerly sought after as an alternative to ennui. I offered my services in any capacity to the ' Times' correspondent, on condition that I should engage in any action. But I saw that the prospects were not encouraging, and the life would be the reverse of that constant hard work and action which I sought —with intense heat and swarms of flies thrown in. So I reluctantly abandoned the undertaking which I had used such efforts to engage in, and returned to Massowa-this time with a passport from General Baldisera, and a riding-mule which Mr Yizetelly kindly lent me. He had, moreover, most generously offered to allow me to share his tent if I remained. Long after, in Uganda, I heard the story of these adventures from a group of Somals, who learnt them from my guide, and their astonishment was great to find that I was that " selfwilled Englishman."
